Archimonde (tactics)
This article is about the in-game raid boss. For character biography and Warcraft III appearances, see Archimonde. General information World First Kill: Nihilum - June 10th Archimonde is the final boss of Mount Hyjal, while on paper he may not seem too complex, the difficulty comes from the perfection the fight demands. It is imperative that every raid member stays alive the entire fight as any death causes a significant amount of raid damage. Abilities *Melees for 9000-10000 normal hit on a full T5 tank. Archimonde is unable to crush. *Fear - About every 40 seconds, Archimonde will fear the entire raid for 5-6 seconds. It has a 1.5 second cast time. Everyone should have the Medaillon of the Alliance/Horde. *Air Burst - A random person and everyone around them is hit for about 3000 damage and tossed extremely high into the air (high enough for 100% fall damage). (or some other type of slowfall effect) must be used right before hitting the ground or you will die. While players have the not-displayed debuff "Air Burst" he cannot use his Fear ability. *Grip of the Legion - Curse that does 375,000 damage over 5 minutes (2500 per 2 seconds), must be removed by a Mage or Druid. *Finger of Death - 20,000 shadow damage on a single target. Archimonde will begin casting this if nobody is in melee range. *Hand of Death - 99,999 shadow damage to everyone in the raid + NPCs in the area. Instant wipe. Happens when he gets too close to the Well of Eternity (~20 yards) and 10 minutes after being engaged. *Soul Charge - Whenever anyone dies, Archimonde gains a Soul Charge from the dead player. He can use the Soul Charge anytime randomly after he gains it (it looks like the Troll Priest shadowguard ability). The effect of the Soul Charge use depends on the class that died. Priests, Paladins, and Warlocks cause ~4500 fire damage to the entire raid as well as silencing the raid for 4 seconds. Warriors, Rogues, and Mages cause ~4500 physical damage to the entire raid, as well as causing the entire raid to take 50% more damage for 4 seconds. Druids, Shamans, and Hunters cause ~4500 nature damage over 8 seconds to all players, as well as a 2250 mana burn. *Doomfire - Leaves a trail of fire on the ground, which does 2400 fire damage per second on first tick, 150 damage less with every following tick until 0, every tick generates spell pushback(occasionally feared people run into these and die). Fire resistance does NOT help at all, but Fire Protection Potions do. Strategy The overall mantra that needs to be made to clear to your raid is that this is not a dps race, it's a matter of survival. There may seem to be a large degree of randomness, but no more so than Prince Malchezaar in Karazhan, and it can be mitigated. That may mean players do 0 dps for several seconds, but at least they will live and not wipe the raid. Positioning Recommended positioning is "4-points", meaning that you should divide the raid into 5 groups: one in the center (for melee) and 4 groups opposite of each other (example: North, South, East, West). Each group should have a decurser (mage/druid) and 1-2 healers. Other strategy guides have in the past suggested 2 ranged groups, but that was because Doomfires used to go into the mountain and disappear. This is no longer the case, and a 4-point strategy is generally viewed as superior now. Put a raid icon on each of the 4 decursers, so that people know where to re-group to. The groups need to be somewhat fluid and move around a bit at times. But when it's safe again they should go back to their relative positions. Air Burst Players will randomly get hit with the Air Burst effect, and be thrown up in the air. Don't forget to get the Tears of the Goddess before you pull Archimonde. While it may take a couple of tries for some people to learn how to time it correctly, after a while no one should by dying from the Air Burst. If they are still dying, then have them practice on the cliff. Have your healers call on vent when they get bursted away or have to run away from Doomfire so your other healers know to step it up. If more than half of your healers are running or bursted, it's probably time for your MT to hit Last Stand or equivalent last ditch survival skill/effect. Doomfire Doomfire "chases" a target for a few seconds. That target needs to be running in a straight line away from Archimonde. Make sure that people are not just sidestepping it - if the fire is "chasing" them, it will make a sharp turn and end up looping around, causing most of the area around Archimonde to be covered in fire. This is a bad situation. Fear Everyone in the raid needs to wear the 2-min PvP trinket that lets you break out of the fear effect. The Fear occurs every 40 seconds, so you know in advance when the next Fear is coming. If your PvP trinket is still on cooldown, you need to move away from the Doomfires 5-10 seconds before the fear. Moving 10 yds is not sufficient -- people need to be around 20-25 yds away. Shamans do help in this regard, but they are not required. While it was initially thought that equipping some Shadow Resist gear would help with the Fear, this is not true. Talents will still help, but no amount of SR gear would help you resist the Fear effect. Same for Fire Resist gear and Doomfire. Archimonde's Fear is dispellable, so if the opportunity presents itself people can Mass Dispell. Analyzing Deaths It is important to drill home the point that individual DPS is not important. When someone dies from Doomfire, ask them why, and then ask them to make sure it doesn't occur again. Consider benching repeat offenders and 24-manning it or 23-manning it until people get the point. Alternatively, have the raid do 0 dps and see if they can survive till the Enrage timer. This will let them practice their survivial skills. Once all 25 players survive till the Enrage timer, then start real attempts on Archimonde. Quotes After Azgalor dies Yells: All of your efforts have been in vain, for the draining of the World Tree has already begun. Soon the heart of your world will beat no more. Aggro: *Yells: Your resistance is insignificant! Doomfire: *Yells: This world will burn! *Yells: Manach sheek-thrish! Air burst: *Yells: Away vermin! *Yells: A-kreesh! Killing a player: *Yells: Your soul will languish for eternity. *Yells: All creation will be devoured! *Yells: I am the coming of the end! Enrage/reaching well: *Yells: At last it is here. Mourn and lament the passing of all you have ever known and all that would have been! Akmin-kurai! Soul charge: *Yells: You are mine now. *Yells: Bow to my will. Reaching 10%: *Yells: No, it cannot be! Nooo! Loot External links For Killmovies of this encounter, see the Bosskill Movies page. Category:Eredar Category:Bosses Category:Hyjal Summit mobs